Sports Archive

Colby Jones considers herself fortunate that she is playing lacrosse at the collegiate level.

She didn’t get into the sport seriously until midway through her high school career at Navarre, and that first season was erased because of the pandemic.

In some ways here on a morning in late June inside the gymnasium, Raider head coach Abby Fogg said she feels as if she’s traveled back in time.

“I told coaches it feels like my first couple of years at Navarre. I’m teaching a lot instead of just watching us play,” Fogg said.

That familiar sound of the bat meeting the ball rang out on a June morning where the heat made it feel as if standing outside was the inside of the oven.

One month of summer workouts are nearly in the books and the Navarre baseball team feels good about the progress made, both in the cages and in the weight room.

Late in the third quarter of a game against North Alabama at Roy Kidd Stadium last October, Josh Carter bullies his way into the end zone from a yard out, stretching the Eastern Kentucky lead to 42-28.

For Carter, finding paydirt is what he strives to do every time he carries the ball. It’s a mindset that has been ingrained into his brain from a young age growing up in a running back family.

The Blue Wahoos are hosting a summer celebration July 3 from 6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola.

General admission is $5, though there is a VIP ticket available for the Hancock Whitney Club in the stadium, and it includes a full buffet, drinks, dessert and a cash bar.

Will Payton was in pain. A concern, perhaps, but then, maybe there wasn’t much of a reason to read too much into it. Aches and pains come with the territory in the unforgiving sport of football.

“At first, I thought it was just breaking back into practice, but the more I practiced, the worse it got,” Payton said. “I started to realize I need to get this checked out. Something is wrong.”

Winning isn’t the only thing, but it seems to be a regular thing for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

Especially when it comes to championships. The reigning Southern League champs clinched the first-half South Division crown Wednesday night in Tennessee, beating the Smokies 3-1.

Quentin Randolph makes a catch along the sideline inside the Dollar Loan Center, nearly going over the wall to make the grab, here on a Saturday afternoon in mid-June.

It’s a key catch during a late-game drive that helps keep the Vegas Knight Hawks’ hopes for a much-needed IFL victory alive.

Katie McLeod put pen to paper in the spring to secure her future as a college softball player, something she’s been waiting to do for a long time.

“I’ve been working up to this moment my whole life,” McLeod said. “I’ve wanted to play in college since I started playing as a little kid at NYSA.”

Emma Simon experienced life as a college soccer player for the first time last fall as a freshman at Division I Alabama State.

It was different to say the least for the former Navarre Raider standout.